Members of the University College Union are going on strike for 14 days.
Photograph: Alamy

I will be striking alongside thousands of colleagues at universities across the UK today. Unless Universities UK, which represents university employers, comes back to the negotiating table, we will be on strike for 14 days over a four-week period.

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It is the longest and most serious strike the sector has seen. Among the thousands of university workers who will walk out are academics and postgraduates who teach, alongside other staff including the often-forgotten librarians, IT personnel, administration and faculty staff and widening participation officers who make the daily running of our campuses possible.

We do not want to strike and withdraw our labour from providing the high-quality education we are committed to delivering to students. Yet the scale and seriousness of the proposed reduction in our pensions is impossible to accept.

Quick guide

Why are university staff striking?

Why are university staff striking?

University staff who are members of the University and College Union are angry at proposed changes to their pensions, which they argue could leave them up to £10,000 a year worse off when they retire. UCU say this would result in a loss more than £200,000 over the course of a retirement for a typical member of staff. Universities UK wants to change the Universities Superannuation Scheme from a defined benefit scheme – giving a guaranteed retirement income – to a defined contribution scheme, which would mean pensions would be subject to changes in the stock market. The union says young lecturers would be worst affected, with some losing up to half their pensions.

What is the argument for the changes?

Universities UK says its pension scheme has a £6bn deficit and it have a legal duty to put in place a credible plan to tackle it by this summer. Without reform, pensions contributions would have to rise steeply – and would mean spending cuts in other areas such as teaching, student support and research. Universities UK says that even after the changes the scheme would compare well with employer contributions double the private sector average.

What about students?

About 80,000 students at 30 of the universities affected have signed petitions. Many are supportive of striking staff but are demanding compensation for the hours of tuition they will miss because of the strikes. Students in England pay £9,250 a year, and have rights under consumer law. Whether these rights apply to industrial disputes is untested.

Photograph: Stephen Shepherd

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Our employers are planning to make our pensions entirely stock-market based, a move they accept will slash our income in retirement. Our union, the University and College Union, estimates this will result in cuts of 40%, or £200,000, over the course of retirement for the average member. The justification is what many see as a fictionalised deficit based on a valuation widely criticised by financial experts.

We will be taking action to defend our ever-declining working conditions. Those at the bottom – postgraduate teaching assistants and those who have not yet entered the pension scheme – face the worst outcome: zero security in old age.

Precarious working conditions, long working hours and poor mental health have become the norm

While many seek to frame academics as overprivileged, overly comfortable idlers locked away from the real world in their ivory tower, the reality is different. Precarious working conditions, long working hours and poor mental health have become the norm. In addition, 54% of all academic staff are on insecure contracts, there is a serious gender and ethnic earnings penalty, and lecturers working on casual contracts often have to survive on benefit support and freelancing.

Steve Hanson, a part-time lecturer in political sociology, describes being a casualised lecturer as like “seasonal labourers, like fruit pickers. You have to email every September, cap in hand, saying: ‘Is there any work for me this year?’” Meanwhile, many vice-chancellors are paid six times the average salaries of their staff and sit on the remuneration committees that determine their own pay.

The crisis in our universities is not limited to pay and conditions for staff. Theresa May this week launched a review into why competition has failed in the sector. It’s no mystery to us: we knew universities would charge the maximum fees to students.

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While vice-chancellors and university management want to pit us against those we teach, we are firmly on the side of our students. I entered higher education because of my vocation to educate and a belief in the public good of education. As a union, we have always opposed tuition fees. The UCU has consistently argued that it should not be students, but the large employers who benefit from the plentiful supply of graduates, who should pay for higher education through a new business education tax. We stand against the growing indebtedness of students. Education is a right not a privilege. So too is a dignified retirement for those who provide it.

Some universities are calling for a return to negotiations. Putting pressure on more of them to do the same, whether you are a member of the public, a student or someone who works on campus, is one thing you can do to support the higher education workers on strike.

• Vicky Blake is a widening participation officer at the University of Leeds and president of its UCU branch